Armada Music

Markus Schulz - Thoughts Become Things II

ARDI2595 - January 13th, 2012

With redesigns of Dakota tracks from Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Arnej and Duderstadt, as well asColdharbour lieutenants like KhoMha, Mr Pit, Klauss Goulart and Beat Service, standby for some super-charged ‘Thoughts Become Things II’s remix edition!

Back at the height of the summer, Markus Schulz released his second collection of musical ‘Thoughts’. Showcasing him at both his most devoutly ‘club’ and musically audacious, it wowed disco citizens and critics alike. Proclaiming that “Dakota was about to take centre-stage”, Mixmag gave it their Album of the Month award, whilst DJ Mag described it as “epic” and extoled its “lush riffs at a housier tempo”. Over the last 6 months its singles – ‘Sleepwalkers’, ‘Saints’, ‘Sinners’, ‘Katowice’ and ‘In A Green Valley’ – have galvanised the sets of the DJ elite, whilst once again crossing genre lines at numerous points.

Such was the rapturous reception to the album that within weeks of its release Markus began to draw up the plans for a remix edition. 5 months on and with that production mission now complete, the 13th of January 2012 will see Dakota’s second album receive its remix companion.

So whose on the mix, you ask? Well, naturally enough, Schulz has parachuted many a Coldharbour hero in to take the album’s tracks to new floors and new times of the night. Klauss Goulart whips up a veritable sound storm on ‘Terrace 5AM’, creatively uniting the track’s ‘I Feel Love’-like disco-bass with one of his typically tempestuous backing tracks. ‘In A Green Valley’, Markus tribute to the famed Brazilian club, has received a pair of reworks too. Basil O’Glue furnishes it with one of his stargazing surround-sound mixes, while Dakota’s own rewire applies an enigmatic, classically Coldharbour-ish touch to it. Thinking outside the box, Mr Pit reimagines ‘Katowice’s industrial churn as a big room, floor carnivore. Phynn meanwhile leaves Redstar’s angular, tubular mainline riff all-but intact, but craftily re-directs it down a more pumping progressive avenues.

Beat Service and Arnej go head-to-head with both of them electing to remix fan favourite ‘Saints’. The Estonian tweaks the tempo and euphorically spikes his mix, while Canada’s finest primes his marching drums and a cool, techno-ish underlay. Likewise ‘Sinners’ gets comparably big-room treatments from KhoMha and Aerofoil.

Stepping outside the Harbour and you’ll find Duderstadt amplifying ‘Gypsy Room’s melodic gene for a stunningly transcendent remake. Fellow German duo Wellenrausch meanwhile re-explore the galactically minded magic of ‘Apollo’. Last and by no means least, Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano complete ‘Cape Town’s housification on their mix, with tough beats and some dramatic stabbed synths.

‘Thoughts Become Things II – The Remixes’ takes Schulz’s accomplished original tracks and travels them to new places, far and wide. The only position they never stray far from though is the centre of the dancefloor.